LOS ANGELES -- He may have been stylishly late, but right fielder Yasiel Puig showed up to the playoff party Monday night, and let everyone know that the Los Angeles Dodgers have no plans to leave anytime soon.

The Dodgers, behind the theatrics of Puig, leveled the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0, in front of a boisterous Dodger Stadium crowd, and just like that, we have ourselves an honest-to-goodness series in the NLCS.

The Dodgers still trail the Cardinals, 2-1 in this best-of-seven series, but now they're assured of getting the ball to at least one of their Cy Young winners, if not both, with Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw.

"Realistically, you felt like it was a must-win,'' Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously, they still have the upper hand, but you feel like you're back in the Series.

"I think the playoffs is a one day momentum swing, and right now, I feel like we kind of grabbed it.''

Dodgers rookie Hyun-Jim Ryu impersonated a Cy Young winner himself with seven shutout innings. He became only the fourth Dodgers pitcher in postseason history to yield three or fewer hits in seven shutout innings, joining Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser.

Everyone is looking like Cy Young these days to the Cardinals. They had only one runner in scoring position all night, and never reached third base. They've had their own version of a government shutdown the last 27 innings, producing just 13 hits with two runs.

If the Cardinals ever do reach third base again, who can blame them if they steal a page out of Puig's celebration handbook?

There have been plenty of wild home-run celebrations in our time, but no one can quite remember antics as zany as Puig with his fourth-inning triple off Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright, scoring the game's second run.

Puig, with Adrian Gonzalez on second base after his run-scoring double ended their drought of 22 scoreless innings, drilled Wainwright's fastball off the right-field wall.

He flung his bat, threw his arms high into the air, and celebrated.

One little problem.

The ball didn't clear the fence. It bounced off the wall, and suddenly, Puig was forced to run like Usain Bolt. As the ball caromed past right fielder Carlos Beltran, Puig sped into third base, and pulled out his celebratory repertoire. There were the first pumps. The arms thrust high into the air. The scream.

It was a thing of beauty, well, at least for a fourth-inning triple.

"That's Yasiel,'' Mattingly said. "He's just emotional. I'd like to see him run right away. …I've been dealing with this all year.''

Puig shrugged it off, saying: "I wouldn't have scored either way, regardless of what happened on the play.''

Surely, the Cardinals will remember it, but that's vengeance for another day.

Said Puig: "In Cuba, you always see a lot of emotion on the field. It's their job to go out there and do the best they can, just like here in the big leagues. The people in Cuba are born to play baseball.''

If Puig keeps performing like this, who knows, the entire Dodgers' team may replicate his flair, understand that he's capable of carrying them all the way through October.

"He's unbelievable,'' said Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, diagnosed with a cracked rib, but who insisted on playing, and produced two hits. "He has so much talent. He can really help us.''

Certainly, anyone who can produce a little offense can dominate this dead-ball series. There have been only nine runs scored by both teams, the fewest in the first three games in League Championship Series history. It's also the first time in NLCS history that neither team has homered.

"We all know that in the playoffs, pitching dominates,'' Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said. "Getting some key runs is always big.''

And when it happens, well, don't be surprised if the next guy goes all-Puig.

It's that kind of series, when a mere hit, let alone a run, is something to celebrate.

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